


Adulting

by JediC8H10N4O2



Series: After: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Growing Up, Personal Growth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 07:45:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11824218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JediC8H10N4O2/pseuds/JediC8H10N4O2
Summary: Ron had been accused of many things in his life. Having the emotion range of a teaspoon, being jealous, being lazy, being a slob, giving Dominique the idea she could fly because she was part Veela. Many of them he had been guilty of. He had been a teenage boy after all. But he couldn't stay a teenage boy forever.And it was actually Mimi who convinced Dominique she could fly, and had somehow managed to get everything blamed on Ron. Maybe there was a good reason his children were wary of her.





	Adulting

**Author's Note:**

> Brief mention of miscarriage

Ron had grown up. He had to. First, because there was an evil wizard trying to take over the country, then because they had to fix the country, and then he needed to fix his brother, and then he had children. Even if he hadn't been completely grown up before Voldemort was defeated, he definitely was afterwards. Everything had changed.

He wasn't a big fan of change. He was better at dealing with it than Charlie, but not as good as Ginny. Fred's death was sobering. Harry's temporary death was devastating. Looking around at Hogwarts after the battle, and seeing all the dead bodies and damaged stonework was bleak. Yes, they had won, but at what cost?

He had become an Auror because, well, he couldn't go back to Hogwarts. He couldn't go back to where Fred died. He couldn't go back because the memories were too sharp, too painful. Ron wouldn't be able to look at Hogwarts and not see the devastation. At least, not then. As the years passed, it got easier. Not better.

He spent several years as an Auror, and was first hit with the new reality. Proudfoot offered to let him and Harry be partners, since they worked well together, and were war heroes, right after the shortened training. And Harry was nodding, and Ron was going to say yes when he said no. And everyone looked at him, surprised, and he had to swallow and say the most adult thing he had ever said.

“If we aren't partners, then one of us can always be home for the girls.”

Harry and Proudfoot agreed, and so Harry became partners with Neville, and Ron with Terry Boot. And Ron felt weird, because hadn't he always wanted to work with Harry and live like they did before the war? But life wasn't guaranteed, and he knew Hermione still had nightmares that Harry had died, or he had left, and Ginny was being too loud, too happy, too bright. And he couldn't stop them from worrying, and he couldn't protect them from the world, but he could give them that one thing. That Harry and Ron wouldn't disappear at the same time and leave them alone.

“You've grown up,” Harry commented after the meeting. Ron shrugged, with a lopsided grin he hoped hid his unease.

“Had to happen eventually.”

After some time as an Auror, he realized George wasn't getting better. Hermione didn't wake up with nightmares as often, Harry looked alive like before fourth year, Ginny could talk about the year of the Carrows, Percy had gotten married, his mother had dedicated herself to Teddy and Victoire, and many other orphans, and his father was back to tinkering in the shed. George, however, had to be coaxed out of his flat above his store. Lee was doing most of the day to day running of the store, and the store hadn't had any new products since Fred.

And he looked at everyone, and knew that he was the best person to help George. So he told George he wanted to help out at the store, and he tried to talk Ron out of it, and Hermione thought he was doing the right thing and was so proud of him, and his mother had teared up and his father smiled at him. So he did it.

Being an Auror after the war, well, Ron knew what war cost. And he didn't thrive in the environment as much as Harry did. He knew he needed to stop being an Auror before he lost himself in dead bodies and evil people and the worst of wizards.

And Hermione miscarried, and Ron was so grateful he was done with being an Auror, because dealing with the miscarriage was hard enough, and on days he wasn't feeling up to life, well, George was there. And while the loss was different, they could sit in silence. And eventually George started talking. And Ron started asking questions, and suggesting possible ideas. And George would shoot his ideas down, but the spark in his eye was back, and he would tinker with potions or enchantment a couple times a week, and six months after the miscarriage and he started working for George, George came up with a new product.

And so Ron was being an adult, while feeling that he was just an imposter. His dad was proud, as was Bill, and it was when Bill told Ron he was proud Ron had managed to help George that Ron realized he might actually be an adult. Because he didn't feel the need for Bill to approve of what he did. It was nice, but he didn't feel the pressure from when he was younger to impress him.

And then Hermione got pregnant again, and they had Rose, and Ron knew he was an adult. Because he knew exactly what his parents went through with him and his siblings. Because the minute he saw Rose, he fell in love, and wanted to protect her from the mean, nasty world out there. And he knew he wouldn't be able to protect her forever. He could look back on his school adventures, and pretend he was Rose, and be like 'dear Merlin, how did my parents not lock me up in a room to protect me?'

And so he raised Rose, and Hugo when he came along, with Hermione. Rose was a mini-Hermione, always asking questions and wanting people to read her books. Hugo was more like Ron, interested in Quidditch, jokes, and chess over anything else. Granted, Rose would play and talk Quidditch unlike Hermione, and Hugo often read books when he couldn't find anyone to play chess, while Ron always tried to avoid reading.

He and Hermione agreed that they had raised good kids, and his parents were proud of him, and he knew, without a doubt, he had grown up from the annoying snot nose whiny jealous kid he once was. Otherwise, he'd have probably failed at raising his family.

Life was good. He had his friends, his family, and a job he loved.

Now if only he could convince his daughter to stop dating the Malfoy kid.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a fan of how Ron was written at times in the original series. We don't really see him grow up, or how the war (minus the horcrux) affected him.
> 
> So I kind of wanted to examine how Ron might have grown up and out of his childhood ideas.
> 
> Not sure how well this turned out.


End file.
